The Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament (Cornish: Seneth Stenegow Kernow), was a pressure group which claimed to be a revival of the historic Cornish Stannary Parliament last held in 1753. It was established in 1974 and campaigned, up until 2008, against the government of the United Kingdom's position on the constitutional status of Cornwall.
Status
The historic Cornish Stannary Parliament last assembled at Truro in 1752, and continued until 11 September 1753. The RCSP formed in 1974 claims continuity from the historic parliament on the grounds that the English legal system does not recognise desuetude (laws lapsing through lack of use), and cites the precedent of the Court of Chivalry, which sat in 1952 for the first time in over 200 years. Their contention is that the Stannary Parliament, whilst not in session, still exists. They also point to the fact that the 1508 Charter of Pardon from which the historic parliament derived its powers, was confirmed as still being on the statute books in 1977.
The British government rejects the claims of the group. In March 2007, Bridget Prentice, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice stated in a written answer in the House of Commons "...there are no valid Cornish stannary organisations in existence.", "There are no treaties today that apply to Cornwall only..." and that " There is no special status for legislation which applies to Cornwall or to Cornish localities."
This was also confirmed in a reply to a question posed by the MP Andrew George in May 2009.
History
On 20 May 1974, a pressure group, claiming to be a "revived" Cornish Stannary Parliament, assembled in Lostwithiel. The group interpreted the 1508 charter as applying to all descendants of Cornish tin-miners, and claimed that they had the power to veto all laws made in Westminster, not only those relating to the tin and mineral industries. The meeting was primarily called in response to a crisis in the china clay industry. Employers in the industry had been forbidden by the Pay Board from paying their 9,000 workers the higher wages agreed under a productivity deal. The Lord Warden of the Stannaries, Geoffrey Waldegrave, 12th Earl Waldegrave refused an invitation to open the parliament.
On 24 June, at a meeting at which the stannators wore kilts of Cornish tartan, and at which an unofficial Cornish national anthem was sung, the group proclaimed eighteen articles or acts, including the claim to retain all taxes gathered in the Duchy, the declaration of Saint Piran's Flag to be the national flag, a claim on all mineral rights including oil and natural gas, and sought to reverse recent local government reorganisation. A petition was sent to the Queen declaring that if she did not recognise the parliament they would seize crown lands and properties. They also sought recognition from the United Nations.
On 12 December 1974, the Home Office replied to the petition, saying that the Home Office could only accept elections by the stannary towns as constitutive of a valid stannary parliament. On 15 December, Brian Hambley, using the title "Lord Protector of the Stannaries", said they had decided to postpone the seizure of property in St Austell to give the four town councils an opportunity to appoint stannators. Hambley claimed there was a constitutional crisis and that should be done "immediately to avoid political anarchy".
The Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament next hit the headlines in 1978, again at St Austell Magistrates' Court. Hambley had been charged with having failed to pay motor tax and displaying the stannary seal in place of a tax disc. His defence was that he was exempt from the court's jurisdiction because he was a "privileged tinner", having staked out several acres of moorland, with a view to working them for tin on land belonging to the lord-lieutenant of the county. After two and a half hours consultation, the magistrates agreed they had no jurisdiction. The following day a court in Bodmin adjourned a similar case sine die against Frederick Trull. On 11 July, the county court (which had the powers of the old stannary courts, under the Stannaries Court (Abolition) Act 1896), declared that the lands Hambley claimed to have staked were already bounded, and ordered him to pay the landowners' costs. By the end of July, over a hundred people were refusing to pay road tax in Cornwall, but a decision of the High Court gave the Home Office leave to quash the original magistrates' decision.